The Georgetown Mayor and City Council are planning to approach central government for a subvention to purchase an additional garbage and dump truck as trash piles up in the capital city.
This publication was told that the motion to approach central government with a request for a subvention was brought before the administration during its last meeting, as a viable solution to reduce the gross garbage build-up in Albouystown, Vlissengen Road and Broad Street, among other areas.
At present, the amount of money the municipality is seeking to address the issue remains unknown.
When contacted on the matter, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Councillor, Jai Narine Singh Jr., well known as ‘Don Singh’ has revealed that the plan was approved by the municipal and is being handled by the Solid Waste Department, headed by Walter Narine.
“Well, this was only done like a week and a half ago and that it was brought to full council and it was approved. Now they have to write to the local government ministry indicating work plans for the purchase of these vehicles and then put out a tender and stuff. I have suggested at the final committee level that we start advertising for environmental workers for this new equipment that we’re getting,” Singh said.
Currently, the Council possesses a total of 33 garbage trucks that are operational along with a tractor and environmental workers.
According to Singh, while the Solid Waste Department is doing a good job with maintaining its thoroughfare, issues continue to arise in the areas being cleaned by private contractors.
Given that the department cannot cater to the entire city at once, he has suggested that the department embarks on a journey that is more sustainable, which would include increasing its manpower and procuring additional equipment.
“We’re way behind. We will need at least 10 to 12 more trucks, first of all, and the manpower that goes with it.
“As well, as you see, the contractors under their contract do not provide for parapet waste. Parapet waste is like if you cut your trees in your yard, your flower bushes, your whatever. There’s no capacity to pick that up under the contracts we have with Cevons and Solid Waste Management Solutions. Our contract does not cover that, so what we find is a lot of people are just dumping that stuff. If you call City Hall, maybe you can arrange for it to be picked up, but right now we don’t have capacity for that. And as I said earlier, the rapid expansion of Georgetown is creating a lot of business waste, it’s creating more garbage in general, especially with the bigger spending powers of the population now,” he added.
The illegal disposal and build-up of garbage has been a consistent issue in the capital city.
The responsibility of cleaning the city solely falls under the jurisdiction of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council and local democratic organs, who receives a subvention from central government to fund capital projects.
Notwithstanding this, the government has still been intervening to clean up the city and bring relief to residents.
Back in April, Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore told media operatives that council allocates $500 million annually for waste collection, encompassing both private and municipal waste management systems.
Mentore highlighted that the Solid Waste Department, overseen by Walter Narine, is responsible for waste collection.
Despite numerous attempts, calls to Narine for a comment on these developments were unanswered.
